Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Patch Adams (1998) - Rousing Williams performance steers Shadyac's sentimental biopic

9/30/2023

Patch Adams (1998) - Rousing Williams performance steers Shadyac's sentimental biopic

♥♥♥♥

A child puts a clown nose on star Robin Williams' warm, endeared face on this bright poster for Tom Shadyac's Patch Adams

Following a suicidal personal crisis in a mental hospital Hunter Adams learns which direction his life should take: As a doctor he wants to make the ill laugh and meet them as fellow human beings. But this brings him on a collision course with the norms in his profession.

Patch Adams is written by Steve Oederkerk (Bruce Almighty (2003)), based on the book Gesundheit! (1998) by the real-life Patch Adams and Maureen Mylander, and directed by Virginian master filmmaker Tom Shadyac (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)), whose 4th feature it is.

Robin Williams (Bicentennial Man (1999)) carries this film, and he makes 'Patch' a moving acquaintance. Patch Adams is more dramatic than most Shadyac films: Monica Potter (Boston Legal (2004-05)) gives a good supporting performance as Patch's girlfriend, and what happens to her in the film is heavy. You'll need a hard heart not to feel the laughter and well-being spread in many scenes. Bob Gunton (Royal Pains (2010-16)) is fine as a doctor antagonist, and Michael Jeter (Jurassic Park III (2001)) and others are good in small parts.

Patch Adams is excessively sentimental but lovely all the same. A couple of Patch's gags in the film are made in an exaggerated version, (one involves enormous women's legs made of papier-mâché at the medical school; another an entire pool filled with spaghetti), and the exaggeration for emphasis is a bit ridiculous. Patch Adams is all about Williams, whose face here expresses that special wealth of emotion that made him so unique and beloved.

Tom Shadyac: The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Evan Almighty (2007) - Shadyac's monumentally miscalculated sequel/professional gravestone (hope not)

Bruce Almighty (2003) - Carrey makes laughter in well-made what-if-you-were-God-comedy

1994 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Top 10: Best comedies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994) - 6th gear Jim Carrey smacker

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 50-90 mil. $ (different accounts)

Box office: 202.2 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.88 times its cost)

[Patch Adams premiered 21 October (USA) and runs 115 minutes. Williams was reportedly paid 21 mil. $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place from February - June 1998 in North Carolina and California. The film opened #1 to a 25.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend at #1 and then another 5 in the top 5 (#2-#2-#2-#2-#3), grossing 135 mil. $ (66.8 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for the Best Score - Comedy/Musical Oscar (Marc Shaiman (Bros (2022))), lost to Stephen Warbeck for Shakespeare in Love. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 1.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. Shadyac returned with Dragonfly (2002). Williams returned in One Saturday Morning (1998, TV-series), L.A. Doctors (1999, TV-series) and theatrically in Jakob the Liar (1999). Patch Adams is rotten at 21 % with a 4.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Patch Adams?

No comments:

Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (17-24)